Sat 11pm: Mill returns workers to full shifts

December 14, 2013

CHAMPION The uptick of demand for locally manufactured steel was clear last week by the deafening booms and the glowing orange spray of flame shooting from the 100-ton electric arc furnace inside Warren Steel Holdings' melt shop.

The scene, coupled by the scurry of workers on the day shift inside the mill, was a far cry from the recent scaleback of hours and reduced production here. Workers on all three shifts about 185 overall are back to working 40 hours a week after being temporarily reduced to about 32-hour work weeks earlier this fall due to reduction in orders.

"Right now we are steady and stable," said John Scheel, chief operating officer at the mill just north of Warren. "We are out of the 32 hours a week, and what I can tell you is we have three crews working a steady 40 hours a week."

It was just October when workers gathered at an employee meeting to hear company officials discuss the outlook for the mill and the industry. Workers at the time had expressed concern because of the scaling back of hours and elimination of overtime. Scheel had stressed at the time the mill's future appeared bright, despite hitting a slow period for orders.

It was just October when workers gathered at an employee meeting to hear company officials discuss the outlook for the mill and the industry. Workers at the time had expressed concern because of the scaling back of hours and elimination of overtime. Scheel had stressed at the time the mill's future appeared bright, despite hitting a slow period for orders.

A rare tour last week through the mill located on part of the site that formerly housed Copperweld Steel showed the facility is back to a hotbed of activity as workers were filling orders for high-carbon steel that would be shipped to a sister plant in Kentucky to mold the newly manufactured 2-ton rectangular billets into steel snow plows and industrial chains for things like roller coasters.

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Read more and see photos from the mill tour in the Sunday Tribune Chronicle.